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Archives: In Our Community
October
2005
 Looking
for a good textbook to teach Israel to students in your
day school or synagogue religious school? Read this
article and find out why and how these three educational
leaders realized that Heschel was talking to them in
his famous and oft-quoted aphorism.
Last summer, three day school educators from Marin,
San Francisco and the Peninsula were inspired to create
"text people" by conceiving an ambitious plan
including a transformational Israel experience, and
pre and post trip study.
When Marlo Newton of Brandeis Hillel Day School in
Marin, Rachel Lewin of the Wornick Jewish Day School
in Foster City and Aviva Joseph of Brandeis Hillel in
San Francisco talked about the experience they shared
as participants in the year-long professional development
program Educational Leadership Institute: focus ISRAEL
(E.L.I.), they realized the profound effect it had on
the way they thought about teaching (and learning) about
Israel. They dreamed of doing something for the teachers
in their respective schools that would elicit the same
kinds of passion for teaching Israel that they themselves
had experienced.
Six months before summer vacation, the three women
talked about the unlikely dream of taking a group of
15 teachers and administrators from the three schools
to Israel for 10 days in July. They had three goals:
1. To create a community of learners that was diverse,
and would be committed to sustained learning before
and after the trip.
2. To create "text people" who would embody
the experience of Israel in their personal attitudes
and behaviors in their classrooms.
 3.
To meet, share and establish a long-term relationship
with two Israeli schools and the faculty and administration
in those schools. (A Mifgash)
Serendipitously, separate sources converged to make
this dream a reality: the support and guidance of the
Israel Education Initiative in both content, methodology
and logistics throughout the entire process, the experience
the three women had in their own professional development
in E.L.I., the support and buy-in of their own schools
and a generous designated donation to the Jewish Community
Federation earmarked for professional development in
day schools focusing on Israel.
Without all of these conditions, these educators could
not have accomplished so much in such a short time.
They had many decisions to make quickly. For example,
they had to consider which teachers would participate.
They decided to select teachers and administrators who
would be certain to put in extra hours required for
pre trip seminars and post trip implementation. Besides
Jewish participants, they wanted non-Jewish participants
who teach general studies in their schools, and hear
about Israel constantly, but don't necessarily understand
why Israel is so important in Jewish education. They
wanted teachers committed to revitalizing the Israel
connection for their schools.
Newton, Lewin and Joseph agree that the most commonly
heard expression on the trip was: "Now I get it!"
Some of these "Aha!" moments were:
• Understanding Jewish passion for the land.
• Understanding the importance of incorporating Israel
into the classroom on a regular and integrated way.
• Seeing how Israel has changed since the 1970's.
• Seeing Israel as holy to Christians and Muslims as
well as Jews.
• Understanding how Israel is central to Jewish identity.
 The
trip was rich and complex, as the fifteen participants
were encouraged to pursue their interests and develop
their own personal stance towards Israel, and then to
share their reflections with colleagues. "My favorite
moment was walking up to the Nahal David waterfall on
the second day. Up to that moment, the trip had been
intellectual. When one of the group plunged into the
refreshing water after the hot hike, and others followed,
we became a community relaxing together. We stopped
THINKING about Israel but BECAME Israel. We did what
everyone does at Nahal David - we enjoyed the waterfall,
and saw each other as people rather than as professional
colleagues."
Another commented on her realization that the group
was following the old custom of retreating to the desert
when faced with dilemmas - "Jews go to the desert
to think and to work things out; we have done this as
a nation and as individuals, and now in 2005, were doing
it again. It was an exhilarating transformation, with
the wind in our faces, at twilight, the desert worked
its magic."
Another's favorite moment was in the Old City at a
Christian holy site. Although she had spent much time
in the Old City, this educator had never visited the
Christian holy sites. She was especially moved visiting
with a colleague who is an observant Christian. "Every
day during the school year this teacher shares our Jewish
spiritual life; now it was an opportunity for me to
share part of her spiritual life at a holy site in Jerusalem."
For the staff of the Israel Education Initiative and
E.L.I., Newton, Lewin and Joseph are the "poster
children" of that endeavor. They took what they
experienced, and used it as a model for creating a similar
experience for fifteen teachers and administrators in
three day schools. This is success!
 Now
they are back, school has started, and dozens of ideas
about bringing Israel into the classroom are beginning
to be implemented. The ideas are plentiful, from pairing
up with an Israeli fourth grade classroom and reading
the same book to transforming the walls of a classroom.
Classrooms that were formerly bereft of decoration are
now bursting with color and energy communicating the
vibrancy of Israel. An 8th grade science teacher planned
to do a unit on water conservation. After hearing Clive
Lipkin of the Arava Institute in Israel, he decided
to incorporate a section on how Israel addresses its
water shortages in order to naturally integrate Israel
into his science curriculum.
Finally, Newton, Lewin and Joseph have these words
of advice: "When you have a big, even audacious
goal, people start taking you seriously. When you are
inspired, you inspire others and your vision begins
to grab more people." They knew they would have
to put in "volunteer" time over and above
the normal hours. The management and boards of their
schools were impressed by their dedication and their
personal passion. Money was donated, and doors opened
to make a dream come true.
***
Read
about it in the J. Jewish News weekly (October 7, 2005)
For a personal account
of trip participant Ruth Rosenthal click here
Photos by Neal Biskar, head of middle school, BHDS
San Francisco
December
2005: Scholars-in-Residence:
Interview with Rabbi Elisha Wolfin
by Nechama Tamler
 How
Teaching Israel Works on Restoring Balance and Other
Ruminations
November 16, 2005
NT: Talk to us about the connection
between teaching Judaism and teaching Israel:
EW: Before we talk about teaching,
perhaps we can talk about living. As an observant liberal
Jew who was born, raised, and living in Israel today,
I feel there is something profoundly missing about Jewish
life there. At the same time, when I lived in the U.S.
for a number of years, I felt that something else was
lacking here.
I have always regarded Zionism as the deep desire to
restore the balance that is absent in Jewish life and
existence. Before I became a rabbi, I was in the field
of holistic health. Many healing practices and theories
are based on an understanding of the four elements--earth,
fire, water and air (other systems use additional elements,
such as wood and metal). The basic assumption is that
a healthy human being needs all four elements to be
in balance. The Talmud teaches us that Ha'adam Olam
Katan (each person is a small world). What is true for
a single human being is also true for a people, or a
state.
In very simplistic terms, I would argue that Diaspora
Judaism fundamentally lacks the earth element. You can
have an environmental activist or a person who loves
hiking who nevertheless lacks the earth element. The
earth element is about the sense of raw ownership and
belonging to the land (any land). You could argue that
many city dwellers lack the earth element, but that
isn't necessarily true, because it has nothing to do
with the physical connection to a plot of earth, but
rather, one's profound sense of belonging and ownership
of the earth. Now, when one of the four elements is
absent, another compensates. In Diaspora Judaism, since
the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, the
air element compensated for the earth element. In holistic
healing, the air element represents intellectualism,
cerebral brilliance, and certain forms of spirituality.
Jewish brilliance and literacy have been our trademark
for centuries. We were both admired and despised for
this. It is our very landlessness that produces so many
Nobel Prize winners. Landless people excel in their
intellectual ingenuity but not in the beautiful crops
they grow. However, this brilliance comes with a heavy
price tag.
The Zionist revolution was successful in converting
the Jewish people from am ha-sefer (people of the book)
to am ha'aretz (people of the land). How amusing it
is that am ha'aretz is a derogatory term in the eyes
of a landless people. The sages, who as a whole, glorified
study over agriculture, gave the term am ha-aretz its
classical negative connotation; a person who was called
an am ha'aretz meant that he was thought of as an uneducated
boor. Zionism tried to reverse this, by restoring the
Biblical narrative at the expense of the Mishnaic/Talmudic
(sages') narrative. Early Zionists did not teach or
learn Mishna, where expressions like am ha'aretz received
their negative connotation. Instead, they walked the
land with a tanakh in hand. The Prophets and the Writings
(NaKh), more than the five books of the Torah, were
(and still are) a text that glorified the intimate connection
between a person and his land-- it is all about a land-based
Judaism.
On the other hand, we in Israel today are so land-based
that we risk losing the sefer (the book) part of ourselves.
While literary brilliance can certainly be found in
Israel, there is a sense that the level of education
is deteriorating, while children's Jewish education
is the Diaspora is on the rise (many more day schools,
academic excellence, etc.). Furthermore, as land-based
people we run the risk of losing the religious freedom
that you American Jews enjoy. Once you have territory
you need to govern and rule it. Governing bodies more
often than not end up defining the peoples' spiritual
path (America is a rare exception to that – it is one
of the few places where a separation of Church and State
exists). This is indeed what happened in Israel - the
State defines who's a Jew and who’s not, and how Jewish
life should be lived. This is what happens when the
earth element overrides the air element! We lack the
Jewish freedom you have in America. In America no governing
authority, Jewish or otherwise, can tell you who is
Jewish and how Judaism ought to be practiced.
At the end of the day we (Israeli Jews) and you (American
Jews) need each other – we will provide a land-based
Jewish expression and experience, you will bring Jewish
freedom and pluralism, Jewish ingenuity and choice.
One metaphor used when discussing Israel and Judaism,
which I think works well, is the body and soul connection….
If the soul is the big idea, the body embodies that
big idea. I would like to suggest that Israel can be
viewed as the bodily manifestation of Judaism. Living
in the Diaspora, teaching Israel could be a way of realizing
of giving Judaism a body, a living, breathing reality.
NT: How does one choose what to teach,
in particular, about Israel? Through what lens?
EW: Another metaphor from the healing
arts can be useful here. Any good education has to be
holistic (not from the word holy, but rather from whole,
though I like the way the two are intertwined). A profound
educational experience touches upon all aspects of life,
and of being in the world. Israel can be a living entity
in people's psyche if it resonates with the totality
of their being. I would hope that each educator personally
will be drawn to that which she is passionate about
in dealing with Israel. There are very few things that
I would not teach in principle (for reasons of ideological
censorship, for example). To an extent, a censored life
is a life not fully lived.
I am personally drawn to story telling, because stories
can capture the nuances and complexities of life. Stories
about real life; stories that have dilemmas that suck
you into their narrative; stories that remind us how
complex, yet exciting, life is. The more complex the
better the story, because the more complex the story
is, the more we can resonate with it. If Israel is the
body and Judaism the soul, then, complex stories can
help actualize the theoretical Jewish lessons that are
taught in religious schools. In a hypothetical world,
Jewish values co-exist beautifully. In a real world
that is filled with complexity Jewish values clash (also
beautifully...).
Culture and art are another means or another "in"
to teaching Israel. Israeli culture and art are rich,
potent, alive, colorful and daring (you know Israelis
excel in chutzpa). The cultural scene in Israel demands
your engagement. Obviously, when you live outside of
Israel, daily engagement with Israel is close to impossible;
however, rich culture, (high or low), really engages
all your senses, your emotions, your belief systems,
and your values.
NT: Tell us more about your idea of
complexity. How is it a Jewish idea? How does it relate
to Israel? How does it relate to teaching Israel?
EW: Israel is extremely complex. This
is one of the reasons people shy away from dealing with
it. They often feel that it's too impossible, it's too
big, it's just too complex. There is so much you need
to know in order to understand the most basic realities
in Israel. However, the world also is complex! Life
is complex!!! Therefore I've come to believe that if
we find a way to do it right, complexity can be life
enhancing.
If one can regard one's own complex life through the
complexity of the Jewish state, then it becomes exciting
and familiar, life enhancing, and even fun. As I said
earlier, we are taught that each and every person is
an entire small world. Each and every person embodies
both the beauty as well as the complexity of the entire
world.
If there's one thing we can all agree upon, it's that
authentic Judaism dares to view life as complex. We
often use the expression, "on the one hand and
on the other hand". Every profound Jewish encounter
echoes this, going back beyond Hillel and Shammai. This
is the essence of Jewish discourse, because Judaism
recognizes that life is complex and only an authentic
system which embraces complexity can be a Torat chayim
(a Torah of real life.)
Israel today serves as a great laboratory in which
one can play out and experiment with complex ideas.
It seems to me that the current American trend tends
to simplify and dumb-down reality: everything seems
to be solvable; There's always the good guys and the
bad guys; There's right and there is wrong; We can fix
even the worst and most intractable problems.
NT: Which complexities do you find
most compelling and interesting?
EW: Making decisions based on moral
values, Jewish values, is very compelling when those
values actually clash with each other. You may wonder
what is so compelling when values clash? Furthermore,
why am I glorifying complexity? Because it makes life
fascinating, rich, and deep, as life should be, as Judaism
is. We always claim that Judaism echoes life. It does
so because it embraces complexity. Well, so does the
Jewish State.
In the Diaspora, Jews run synagogues (and Federations,
etc.). In Israel Jews run a State! It could happen that
one synagogue would have such virulent disagreements
among its membership that it would split into two. And
that would be fine and would be Jewish--even profoundly
Jewish… A Jewish state cannot do that. It cannot break
in two (it did 3,000 years ago, and almost a tenth of
its population disappeared.
NT: Any last comments?
EW: My perception, and this may not
be a polite thing to say, is that there is a lot about
American culture that is perfectly content to keep difficult
issues at arm's length. Israel, on the other hand, has
no such luxury. Difficult issues are always in one's
face; Israel provides a very rich and compelling place
to experience all of life---its ups, downs, challenges,
dilemmas, noise, and "realness". If we do
Israel education right, we get people to come to Israel
where they can feel the aliveness and complexity for
themselves---it’s a wonderful antidote to the "hollywood-ization"
of life, where there are just the good guys and the
bad guys.
NT: thank you very much, Elisha!
Rabbi
Elisha Wolfin, our Scholar-In-Residence,
was in the Bay Area for one week during which time he
participated in a two day retreat for early childhood
educators, led a staff development day in a local day
school, spoke to teens at the Peninsula Havurah High
in Palo Alto, and worked with a variety of educators
as a guest teacher at their November monthly professional
development seminars (ELI bet). When this group arrives
in Israel later this month with Vavi Toran, director
of the Initiative, Elisha will be their local educator.
Elisha also visited and worked with the three schools
who sent teams to Israel last summer to build twinning
programs. The twinning programs are a project of Brandeis
Hillel (SF and Marin campuses) and Wornick Jewish Day
School locally and in Israel, the Reali School in Haifa
and the Misgav School in Misgav.
February
2006
Interview
with Cartoonist Michel Kichka
 Michel
Kichka, a native of Belgium and the son of
survivors of the Sho'ah, came to Israel 32 years ago,
and has been cartooning ever since. He is a freelance
illustrator of editorial and political cartoons, comic
strips, childen's books and advertising. He is also
a senior instructor at the Bezalel Academy's Visual
Communications Dept. He was recently in the Bay Area
as Scholar-in-Residence for the Israel Center, his second
such stint, and as one of 20 featured Israeli cartoonists
in the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum, "Israel:
The Cartoonists Diagnosis--a View Point From Within."
Q: Isn't cartooning a lonely profession?
A: I am lucky to be part of an international
guild of fellow political cartoonists. In a recent meeting
in November in Israel, 26 of us from around the world
met for a conference discussing everything from the
ethics of cartooning to questions we get on a daily
basis. It was a chance to expand our thinking. For me,
cartooning is more my 'vocation' than my profession
but once in awhile, it helps a lot to meet with others
in your profession.
Q: Do you think about what's next
for you in the world of art?
A: I love what I do, and I use as my
model a beloved teacher who taught me illustration,
and is still alive, active and drawing at the age of
89. I want to be like her--strong, healthy and to continue
expressing my ideas until my last day. I like having
the privilege of being able to produce thought-provoking
cartoons, and to act the part of the 'court jester'--saying
things that are outrageous but spur others to see the
absurdities of situations in the news.
Q: Tell us what you think is the point
of a political cartoon.
A: A good political cartoon informs.
It teaches something. In all learning situations, you
can make things much easier for students with humor--you
allow your students to enter any subject through the
side door--through the door of humor. A cartoon is much
more creative than a photograph, for example. Here's
an example--let's say you have a photo-op with 50 photographers
at a shoot with President Bush and Jacques Chirac--you
will emerge with 50 photographs that look very much
alike. But, if you put 50 cartoonists in the room and
each does a sketch, you will emerge with 50 very different
cartoons even though they were all looking at the same
thing. That is the power of cartooning.
Q: How should someone look at a cartoon?
A: Cartoons can be read at many different
levels. There is the simplest level, and then there
is reading-between-the lines. One of the techniques
that my favorite American political cartoonist, Pat
Oliphant, uses is a little figure, like the penguin,
that says something opposite to what the main character
is saying. You have to ask yourself, what does the cartoonist
mean here? What do the objects symbolize? Cartoonists
try to tease their audiences. They are sophisticated
and want their pictures to merit and second and even
third look.
Q: Can you imagine using cartoons
in a classroom?
A: Yes, absolutely, If you just ask
a student to tell you what she sees, you will observe
that she is actually learning by describing to you everything
that is in the picture. Kids don't miss the details--they
are better at reading a picture than adults. The student
is learning by himself and the teacher finds out what
she must fill in as background or context. Teachers
need to ask students "tell me what you see"
to get a rich discussion going.
Q: So how do you link the subject
of your cartoons with the news?
A: In the past 20 years we have become
consumers of never-ending news, and I think that fast-news
is the same as fast-food--it's not very nourishing.
This kind of news is produced by huge media outlets
and don't provide thoughtful analysis. We have CNN,
the radio talk shows, live news shows--all of which
are more like entertainment than news. A cartoonist
needs to be much more informed about what is going on
and sometimes that means I end up more confused, but
it gives me more nuanced view. It is a mistake to think
that a cartoon is funny just because it has a lot in
common with comics. A political cartoon must be critical,
intelligent, sophisticated. A cartoon is print media--it
stays around and is exposed for a much longer time.
Q: What process do you use?
A: One of the classic ways to work
is to juxtapose two subjects, for example, war or a
natural disaster with something trivial happening in
Hollywood. It is out of this strange pairing that something
interesting happens and gets people to re-think. After
Sharon was hospitalized with a stroke all of the political
satire shows were off the air for a week in Israel.
There was an atmosphere of mourning, similar to the
way it was after Rabin was shot ten years ago. But the
cartoonists didn't stop because we have a different
sense of responsibility. What we wanted to say made
people stop and think--whereas a TV show just disappears
when it is off the air. We are in the business of researching
the naked truth.
Q: I want to ask you about the cartoons
printed in the Danish press that outraged the Muslim
world.
A: This is a dramatic example of the
power of cartoons. Cartoons are stronger than editorials
because they are immediate. It takes 5 minutes to read
an editorial and people don't bother, but a cartoon--it
just takes 1-2 seconds to read a cartoon--and everyone
has time for that. I am so glad to live in a country
without censorship. A friend in France who works for
Le Monde must submit 4 or 5 cartoons daily to his editor,
who then decides what can be printed. In Israel, we
have 'personal censorship' ; we know the limits of good
taste and each cartoonist draws his own line, so to
speak. I am the son of survivors of the Sho'ah, and
I made a personal pledge to avoid the Sho'ah in my drawings,
but, one day, I felt very strongly about something and
I broke my own rule to make a point.
Q: What is your relationship with
print journalists?
A: We cartoonists are not really journalists---but
we depend on them. And yet, we are much more exposed,
because we only represent ourselves rather than the
country or the newspaper. Israel is a very good place
to be a cartoonist--a democracy--and it is very important
not to get caught up in one party that you completely
identify with because you risk becoming a propagandist.
For eight years, I cartooned on TV on a morning show
and drew a cartoon based on the morning's headlines;
at the end of the show, I displayed what I had come
up with during the taping. When I left the studio, I
felt exposed for a second time because presumably anyone
watching the TV show saw me showing my work on TV and
now they knew exactly what I looked like. People recognized
me on the street and so I tried to censor myself on
TV--but not too much. It made an interesting life.
Michel Kichka was interviewed by Nechama
Tamler in San Francisco, February 6, 2006
Interview
with Stuart Schoffman
Journalist and columnist with the Jerusalem Report
 Stuart
Schoffman, graduate of Yale, Harvard and as
he reminds you, "the yeshiva of Flatbush"
made Aliyah from Brooklyn to Jerusalem over 25 years
ago. A journalist with a keen mind, well versed in traditional
Jewish thought and history and an active member of the
Screenwriters Guild of America, Schoffman is currently
serving as the volunteer chair of the San Francisco
Jewish Community Federation's Amuta, non-profit advisory
board in Israel that helps guide the allocation of grants
to worthwhile efforts in Israeli society. Schoffman
also pointed out that he has a soft place in his heart
for Jewish educators, since he is the son of two of
them.
Q: What is the most important thing
a Jewish educator can teach about Israel?
A: "Students need the broadest
possible picture of Israel, one which is complete with
all of her triumphs and all of her vulnerabilities.
The State of Israel represents the ongoing normalization
of the Jewish people as a nation among the nations of
the world. We need to teach American Jewish kids that
there glories and pitfalls to Jewish sovereignty and
that we have come a very long way from the days of the
folk-dancing heroes and the swamp-drainers.”
Q: What are Israelis talking about
vis a vis the political situation currently?
A: “We in Israel are full-time, full-strength
Jews living in our own land and coping with huge political
changes at the moment. These political realities are
impossible for the average citizen to control, but this
is not a new phenomenon. In Israel, it is often the
case that the toughest social problems are eclipsed
by the big issues of security and politics. We can't
fix Teheran getting nuclear weapons, or the undoing
of the terrorist agenda of Hamas, but we can work on
the issues that go towards our shared values.” Schoffman
insists we focus on the things we can control. "We
can promote education for democracy, with 'one citizen,
one vote.' We can pursue the idea of religious pluralism
and social justice. We can demand equality of economic
opportunities for all of Israel's citizens, not just
for the white, ashkenazi, anglo-saxons (WASPS). We need
to continue finding those start-up initiatives which
will bring the values of civil liberties and justice
to the table in Israeli society."
Q: Could you give us an example?
A: "There are lots of examples.
Here's one: we need to provide day care for Arab children
because if we don't do it and the government doesn't
do it, who will? And if no one does it, aren't we adding
to building an indigenous movement parallel to Hamas
within our own cities?"
Q: What do you think about the future
of Kadima (Ariel Sharon's new political party)?
A: "Look, Sharon is now literally
hovering between heaven and earth and therefore it's
exceedingly difficult to say anything until the dust
settles. However I believe there was a great deal of
national momentum in favor of Kadima. But Kadima was
not yet a political party of substance when Sharon suffered
his stroke. Not much was planned and now he has already
begun to be deified among the popular press. Sharon
was a larger-than-life presence and even in his incapacitated
state, he seems to exert enormous influence. Even people
on the left in Israeli politics realize that an important
part of Sharon's legacy was the withdrawal from Gaza--completed
without bloodshed and internecine fighting. Sharon rode
the wave of consensus that this was tremendously painful
but had to happen. He finally realized that he could
have two of the following three realities: 1) a Jewish
state 2) a democratic state 3) a state that had limited
borders (not the Greater Land of Israel.) He made the
decision to get out of Gaza, in order to keep the State
of Israel Jewish and democratic."
Q: And what do you think about how
Ehud Olmert has assumed the role of Prime Minister?
A: "Olmert is now wearing the
cloak of his predecessor. Anyone would have a hard time
stepping into that. The Israeli elections are just weeks
away (end of March); we need to keep a close eye on
the moves of Hamas--what are they going to do?"
Schoffman maintains that it won't work to have the separation
between Israel and the territories be along the lines
of "we're here and they're there and we're also
there," warning that the withdrawal needs to take
the new realities of Hamas into account.
Q: But aren't you really worried about
this terrorist organization being the parliamentary
majority of the Palestinian Authority?
A: "Look--its normal and natural
to be alarmed but I don't want to become an alarmist!
As far as Hamas goes, we might be looking at a Nixon-in-China
phenomenon; it's important to think through what it
means to withhold money from Hamas just because they
are a terrorist organization. Do we want hungry, angry
young men with guns on the loose? Who are they going
to take their anger out on? And furthermore, what can
we learn from history? The last time a giant leader
fell in Israel was ten years ago, when Yitzhak Rabin
was shot. Shimon Peres refused to campaign as the one
who would make good on the legacy of Rabin and that's
why he lost the election. That was fateful because it
turned Netanyahu into the next Prime Minister. A second
intifada brought more violence; only later we saw Sharon
as a political leader that was trusted more by the public.
Sharon was able to contain terrorism and also make the
necessary moves to "divorce" Israel from the
Palestinians, starting with the Gaza withdrawal without
the same hyperbole as Netanyahu."
Q: So what's the most important thing
to teach our kids about Israeli politics?
A: "Focus on what's really important
and what's in your control: teach the complexity of
the moment facing Israel, but more important, teach
values that we share and that we want to support in
Israel. Teach social justice for Israel as well as for
American Jews. Teach about the "haves" and
"have-nots" in Israeli society, and what we
can do about it. Teach about helping bring about better
economic conditions for the 34 % of Israeli children
who live below the poverty line. Teach that social justice
means social justice for every human being, not just
for the Jewish Israelis, but for the Arab Israelis as
well. This is an important voice for us to convey to
our students."
Stuart Schoffman was interviewed by Nehcama
Tamler in Palo Alto, January 30, 2006
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